Sagittarius is one of the constellations of the zodiac and is located in the Southern celestial hemisphere. It is
Sagittarius - Sgr - Sagitarii
one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy and remains one of the 88 modern constellations.
It is easy to find due to the fact it lies on the Milky Way and its brightest stars form an asterism known as the Teapot.
Information[]
The centre of the Milky Way lies in Sagittarius, so the Milky Way starfields are dense. This also applies to neighbouring constellations, Scorpius and Scutum.
The actual centre of the Galaxy is marked by a radio and infrared source known as Sagittarius A* which contains a supermassive black hole.
The Wow! signal was a strong narrowband radio signal that appeared to have come from the direction of Sagittarius. It was then used to support the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Stars in Sagittarius[]
- Rukbat
- Kaus Australis
- Pistol Star
- Ross 154
Open and Globular Clusters[]
- Messier 18
- Messier 21
- Messier 22
- Messier 23
- Messier 24 (Sagittarius Star Cloud)
- Messier 25
- Messier 28
- Messier 54
- Messier 55
- Messier 69
- Messier 70
- Messier 75
- NGC 6530
- Arches Cluster
Nebulae[]
- Messier 8 (Lagoon Nebula)
- Messier 17 (Omega Nebula)
- Messier 20 (Trifid Nebula)
Galaxies[]
- Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy